My Daughter Season 1
by CanadianChick07
Summary: What if Callen had a 17 yo, estranged, daughter? Episode titles and a look into Callen trying to rebuild the relationship between him and his spitfire, of a daughter, while trying to be a NCIS: LA agent.
1. Identity

_**A/N- I don't own anything, except my OC's.  
><strong>_

* * *

><p><strong>Identity<strong>

Callen and Sam looked at the sun setting and Emma talking to her mother, Helen. It was a good ending to a bad case and Callen had survived his first day back. Without getting shot.

"What are you thinking about, G?" Sam asked, watching Emma on the phone.

"Nothing," Callen lied.

Back at the Mission, Hetty was on one of her tirades. "Your expense reports. They are six months behind. Don't worry tomorrow will be fine." Callen looked up at her, waiting for her to finish, not bothering to argue that tomorrow was much too soon to be trying to finish six months' worth of expense reports. After all, it was a completely reasonable request. "After you've gone and seen your daughter."

Callen's jaw dropped. "How did you know?" Not many people knew about his estranged daughter. Sam didn't even know.

"I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't know. Go see her."

Forty two minutes later, Callen was pulling up in front of a Santa Monica house. He sighed. This was going to be hard. Extremely hard. He hadn't seen his 17 year old daughter in quite some time. Slowly, he walked up the walk and knocked on the door.

A tall, blonde woman opened the door. "So you think you can come in and out of her life like nothing?" No hello's, no pleasantry's. That was the way the Vandenhoven family operated. Straight to the point and his daughter had been living with her aunt, Skylar Vandenhoven, most of her life. Callen wasn't sure what bad habits she had picked up from that side of the family.

"I intend to stay in it," Callen replied.

Skylar finally relented and opened the door for him to come in. "For how long this time, G? I don't want this turning into another drive by visit of her mother's."

"Her mother was by?" Callen bristled at the fact. There was no love lost between his ex and him. The last time he had seen her was eight years ago.

"Maybe if you had of stayed in my life, you would know that," Callen turned to see his daughter walking down the stairs. 5' 10'', toned body of an athlete, blonde hair and blue eyes. Taylor Kaatje Callen was absolutely gorgeous.

Callen was about to explain but Taylor cut him off. "I wouldn't have come to your funeral if you would have had one."

"How did you know?"

"Social services came by. Said you were dead in a drive by shooting. Somehow I didn't really believe that. Just figured it was a way for you to go underground and go on a deep cover op. Like last time," Taylor said bitterly. She still stood on the last step, arms crossed. The clothing made Callen wince. White short shorts and a pale yellow tank top that revealed way too much cleavage for a seventeen year old.

"I'm here, Taylor. And I'm not leaving."

Taylor looked at her aunt and back at Callen. "Good." She took a step down and crossed over to where he was standing and wrapped her arms around him. Callen instinctively did the same and Taylor buried her head in his shoulder. Callen forgot how good it felt to hold his daughter in his arms again.


	2. The Only Easy Day

**_A/N- Don't own anything related to NCIS: LA_**

**The Only Easy Day**

"So when was the last time you saw Holgate?" Callen asked Sam as they walked the hallway of the Federal Building.

"Bosnia. When was the last time you saw your daughter?" Sam retorted, on the offensive. He had tailed Callen last week after work one night, well, tailing him the best he could. He ended up outside of a house in the suburbs of Santa Monica and was surprised to see Callen walk out with a teenage girl. She was laughing and Callen seemed….happy. He had approached Callen about it in the car the next day and he wasn't divulging, other than the teenage girl was his daughter. Sam had tried bringing it up every day since, to no avail. Callen wasn't budging and Sam was about to go behind his partner's back and ask Hetty who the mysterious teenager was.

"So, you two have history together?"

"We weren't dating, if that's what you mean. If you're going to keep interrogating me like this, I'm going to start interrogating you again on your mystery daughter," Sam fired back. Callen dropped the attack.

* * *

><p>"Really, dad? Golf attire?" Taylor muttered, that evening, as she came down the steps to her father in the living room, chatting with Skylar.<p>

"Got anything wrong with golf attire?"

"I just didn't think you owned anything but long sleeve shirts and jeans, that's all," she said. "We going? I'm kinda hungry and Skylar doesn't have any food in her house."

Callen stood up. He had run out of the Mission before Hetty could say anything about the clothing, anxious to have a dinner date with his daughter. "I guess. Let's go."

Taylor was already waiting by the door, flip flops on her feet. "Are you coming? For some reason I thought you walked faster than a turtle. Geez!"

Callen rubbed his face in exasperation and looked at Skylar. She just shrugged sympathetically. Taylor had the attitude to match Kensi's and more. Whew. He hadn't really missed the insults thrown his way every time she opened her mouth. Actually, that was a lie. He did miss her. A lot. Insults and all.

They were at a diner in Venice, for dinner. Taylor's choice. "You going to come to my game tomorrow?" Taylor said, in between bites of ceasar salad. Taylor played on the Santa Monica High School soccer team and also played club soccer for Santa Monica United FC.

"Do I have to?" Callen joked.

Taylor shot him a look. If looks could kill, he would have been dead. "I'm just joking. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

* * *

><p>The next day, they had a case and Callen kept looking at his watch. Taylor's game was at 4, and it was 3:51 right now.<p>

"What's up with all the watch looking?" Sam asked, driving back to the Mission in his Challenger.

"Just drive faster," Callen said.

Sam looked over at him and smiled. "Going on a date or something?"

"Nope." And that was all Callen was going to say about the subject.

By the time he had got to the soccer field, it was over half time and SMU was up 2-1. He sat down on the grass beside Skylar.

"I'm impressed you made it," Skylar said, not taking her eyes off Taylor playing. She was a forward and even in the couple seconds Callen had been watching the game, he could tell Taylor was good. Really good.

"Why?"

"Just your past record and everything. You normally tend to make promises like these, and not follow through." Skylar replied. She finally turned to Callen, who had just given her a look. "Okay. You have a clean slate, again. I'm just hoping for Taylor's sake you can be a little more involved in her life. And I am really happy that you are making a commitment. I really am."

Callen didn't say a word back to his ex-sister-in-law. Skylar had been right. He remember one instant when Taylor was 14 and he had told her he was going to come to her soccer game and in the end, right before the game, the CIA had told him he was going on another op. Callen had phoned Taylor after the game to apologize and she had just hung up on him.

Taylor's team had won 3-1 and she came off the field, beaming. She even gave him a hug, sweaty and all. Callen was just thankful he wasn't in clothes that needed to be returned to Hetty, because his daughter smelled like a locker room.


	3. Predator

**Predator**

Callen and Sam were on their way to meet Captain Briggs at the boatshed when they decided to stop by for lunch. They did have to eat and Nate was babysitting Captain Briggs. After arguing for a couple minutes on where to go, they settled on a place in Santa Monica.

One thing Callen was not expecting when he walked into the restaurant was his teenage daughter sitting in it, with several guys around her. His parental spidey senses kicked in full gear seeing his daughter being the only girl at the table. Yeah, not okay.

"Daddy," Taylor said, smiling and rising to kiss him on the cheek, before sitting down.

Sam was behind him, mouth dropped. "Is she…"

"Taylor Vandenhoven. You are?" she said, smiling. Callen thought the smile was one of Taylor's signature "smirks." She had a lot of faces, that's for sure.

"His partner. Sam Hanna," Sam said, extending a hand and Taylor shook.

Callen had kept quiet during this whole exchange, watching the group of guys and Sam's reaction to meeting Taylor. "Dad, you didn't tell me your partner was a guy permanently on 'roids and Super SEAL." He hadn't told Taylor that his partner was a SEAL. She had figured that one out all on her own.

Sam choked back a laugh. "G, is this your daughter?"

"I wouldn't think me calling him 'daddy' gave it away, at all, don't you think?" Taylor smirked. "I call every guy daddy," the sarcasm in her voice was quite heavy. After all, that was the famous Taylor Vandenhoven. Always one to use sarcasm.

Sam actually laughed this time. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

Callen narrowed his eyes and the look said I'm-your-father-and-you-better-not-be-lying-when-you-answer-me. "Yeah, Taylor."

"And if I am skipping school?" Taylor smiled sweetly.

Seeing some serious shit was about to go down between Taylor and her father, the guy sitting to Taylor's right, wisely replied for her. "We have a spare before lunch."

"And you are?" Callen's eyebrows were raised, waiting for a response.

"Cody James," the boy answered. Callen just nodded. He filed that one away in the back of my mind.

"Sam, why don't we let them eat in peace. Taylor, we're not done," Callen said, guiding Sam away from Taylor and the boys. All he heard was Taylor laughing.

"That's your daughter?" Sam asked, back in the car. They had been silent for several minutes, Sam trying to figure out how to bring it up and Callen, trying to avoid the conversation all together. "She seems…" He tried searching for words but couldn't come up with one, albeit the short encounter of meeting his partner's daughter.

Callen laughed. "Sweet?"

Sam nodded, looking at Callen. They were almost at the boatshed. "Sweet, would be a good description. She doesn't look like you. At all. Looks more?"

"Like her mother and her aunt. She's definitely my _dochter, _though."

"What language is that? The 10th one you speak?" Sam joked.

Callen looked away. "Frisian. Taylor's mom was from Fryslan, a small province in The Netherlands. Taylor and her aunt speak Dutch to each other."

" Huh," Sam said. They were pulling up the boatshed now.

"Sam. Nate doesn't know about Taylor. I'd rather him not know. I don't need him pyscho-analyzing me even more."

* * *

><p>Callen didn't realize he was holding his breath the whole time Briggs took over manning the UAV. He released it after Briggs managed to fly it into the ocean. What if that high school the terrorists had targeted was Santa Monica High, where Taylor went? What if?<p>

He told Hetty was leaving early and showed up at Santa Monica High, and watched his daughter come out of the school, laughing and joking, with Cody James and the rest. He was leaning against the passenger side door.

She stopped once she saw him and gave him a slight smile, even from the distance. She gave Cody a hug goodbye and then walked away from them.

"I definitely wasn't expecting you here," Taylor said as she walked up.

"Do I need a reason to see you?" Callen asked.

She rolled her eyes. "No. But a text or a call is common courtesy."

Callen put his arm around Taylor's shoulder. "Do you have practice today?"

She nodded. "Yeah. At seven. Why?"

"Grab some ice cream?"

"What's your angle?" Taylor cocked her head and put her hands on her hips as Callen went over to the driver's side. Even though she could drive, being a junior, she elected to get a ride from Cody today.

"No angle."

"I don't believe you."

"Get in the car."

Taylor rolled her eyes and finally relented, probably the one and only time in her life. But she was glad to be spending time with her father. "Fine."


	4. Search and Destroy

**_A/N- I've been in Taylor's shoes before. It sucks to get busted sneaking in. Anyways, I'm enjoying writing this character. Thank ya'll for the reviews :)  
>And I don't own NCIS or NCIS: LA.<br>_**

**Search and Destroy**

Taylor looked at her cell phone before opening the side screen door. She winced when she saw the time. 6 am. Way later than she had hoped. She opened it slowly, trying to not make any noise.

She made it through the kitchen; the only noise that was being made was the automatic coffee maker. Taylor thought she was home clear and, slowly, made her way up the stairs. A voice stopped her.

"6 am, huh?" Her father's voice. What was her dad doing at her aunt's house, at six am? "Little late to be sneaking in, don't you think?"

She turned around. Mascara was smeared, her hair in a ponytail, high on her head and wearing the same clothes she went out in last night. "It's not what you think."

"Coming in at six in the morning is not what I think it is?" Callen asked, getting up off the couch, coffee mug in hand.

"I was going for a run," Taylor improvised. If she got caught, it was usually by Skylar and well… her aunt was a pushover. But getting caught by her father was a whole new one. And she was usually a better liar than this.

"If you making lying a habit, I suggest getting a little better at it," Callen said. He didn't have much experience at parenting or being parented but Sam always said the "guilt" technique was the best.

Taylor bit her lip, nervously.

He shrugged. "I suggest getting in the shower now, before you're late for school. Just a suggestion." Taylor made her way up the stairs and passed Skylar in the hallway. Busted.

When Callen got to work and seeing Kensi come in late and definitely dressed up, made him think of catching his daughter red-handed. It was hilarious, if not given the fact that his teenage daughter was sneaking out at night. Oh she was going to give him grey hair.

* * *

><p>Callen and Sam were walking down the street to the tattoo shop. Callen was thinking about how he grew up a couple blocks from here. Walking into the tat shop, he turned to Sam. "Why am I suddenly having nightmares of my daughter turning up with a tattoo?" He thought it probably had to do with something about this morning's events.<p>

"Because it's every father's nightmare? And it's your daughter?" Sam asked.

"So when was your first tattoo?"

After Callen dropped Flynn off, he knew where he had to go- Taylor's. Going undercover as a game nerd was…enlightening. He wondered if Taylor played video games at all. Flynn was a little bit like Callen and in return, Callen was really hoping he could change his ways, for his daughter's sake.

Opening up Skylar's front door, he found Taylor watching TV, more specifically Jersey Shore. He cringed at that fact. His daughter had horrible taste in TV shows. And yes, Callen did know what it was, thanks to Dom and Eric bringing it up and Nate going on a tangent about Snooki and the rest of them."Two times in one week, dad? Again, common courtesy is to send a text."

"Common courtesy is to not be sneaking in at six in the morning," he fired back, slipping off his shoes and making his way into the living room.

"Oh, so next time, I'm supposed to not come home at all? Okay, I will just go straight to school," Taylor smiled, sitting up on the couch.

Callen settled into the chair, opposite the couch. "There won't be no, next time, Taylor."

"That's what you think."

"Taylor," he said warningly. "Where'd you sneak out to, anyways?"

She shrugged. "The beach."

"Right," Callen said.

"How did you know I snuck out?" Taylor asked. That question had been eating her up all day. She really wanted to know.

He laughed. "Skylar got up last night because she forgot to set the coffee maker. Imagine her surprise when she found the screen door open. She sent me a text."

"Damn," Taylor said.

The next morning, he found Eric. "Can you pull up a call log? Cody James," he told Eric. He had got Cody's number from Taylor's cell phone last night when she went to the washroom. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that Cody didn't have a juvenile record. He was happy that Cody wasn't a convicted felon; he didn't look it either, but one part of Callen hoped he was, so he could forbid his daughter from seeing him. Although his father was an Internal Affairs detective at LAPD. Oh the joys of being a parent, Callen thought.


	5. Killshot

**Killshot**

As Callen was listening to Nate go on about how college and his master's hadn't taught him how to handle Hetty and he was clueless on how to do it, Callen thought he was pretty clueless on how to handle a teenage daughter. He was also thinking about getting a real place, so Taylor could live with him. But decided against it. Taylor was better and safer being at Skylar's.

His phone vibrated and he opened it to find a text from Taylor. _Good morning, Dad._

Callen silently laughed and typed out a response. _Good morning Taylor. What do you need?_ His daughter did not just send him good morning's texts on a whim.

* * *

><p>Taylor sat in her second period chemistry, trying not to fall asleep. "This has got to be the worst class," Taylor muttered to Cody. "Worse than Durwick and French class."<p>

Cody looked around. Their teacher, Mrs. Chatham, had her back to the classroom. He checked the clock on the wall. 48 more minutes of this dreadful class. "Wanna get out of here?"

She nodded and silently, they packed up their books and slipped out of the classroom. A couple students were trying not to laugh, probably jealous.

"So what do we do from here?" Cody asked.

Taylor shrugged. "Go shopping? You buy me breakfast." Her stomach grumbled. She had, unfortunately, had an early morning soccer practice.

"I can buy you coffee," Cody replied.

"Breakfast," Taylor said. "Or I tell Mrs. Chatham you snuck out of her class."

"Fine," he glared at her as they walked out of the school. Taylor didn't feel at all guilty about doing it. Breakfast was much more exciting than sitting through chemistry class.

"So, your dad," Cody started off, once sitting down in the restaurant.

Taylor gave him a look that told him to shut up. She did not want to talk about it. "Don't want to talk about it."

"I honestly never knew you had a father. I always thought it was just you and your aunt."

She sipped the coffee. Just was she needed. She was not an early morning person. By any stretch of imagination. "It is. Kind of. It's complicated. My father has been in and out of my life, for, well, as long as I have been alive. Suddenly, he's back in it, and he says he's intending on staying."

"You don't believe him?" Cody reached his hand across the table, to take a hold of hers and gave it a squeeze.

Taylor shrugged, looking away. "My dad is my dad. Part of me wants to believe him, and the other part, expects him to walk out tomorrow, like nothing happened."

* * *

><p>Skylar was making dinner when Taylor came in after soccer practice, smelling like a locker room. "Your school called. Well, specifically Mrs. Chatham."<p>

"So?"

"Skipping class again, Taylor?"

Taylor rumaged through the fridge until she found an apple. She hopped up on the counter, next to Skylar. "Get off and get in the shower. You reek."

"I think I smell great," Taylor muttered.

Skylar pointed in the vague direction of upstairs. "Shower. Now. Or no dinner."

Taylor hopped off the counter, smiling the whole way upstairs. Victory. Skylar completely forgot about Mrs. Chatham calling.


	6. Keepin' It Real

**Keepin' it Real**

"Nature versus nurture. Quite the conundrum," Hetty said, walking into the bullpen, and breaking up Callen and Sam's argument.

"You can't use the word conundrum before nine thirty, Hetty," Callen said, reading his newspaper.

After Hetty had announced the case, Sam turned to him as they were heading into Ops. "So Taylor's attitude, is that nature or nurture?"

"Don't go there, Sam," Callen warned. To be honest, he wasn't sure. He just hoped Taylor didn't pick up on any of her mother's habits or attitudes. It was a good thing, if one were to argue the nurture argument, that Taylor's mom hadn't been a part of her life.

After the case of the fake money had been resolved, Callen sat in his car, thinking about his conversation with Natalie Giordano. Maybe if she hadn't been a cop, he would have taken her up on her offer, but now, his daughter was his only concern.

And the rule of dating cops? Well, that had come from Taylor's mom. Riaane Vandenhoven. She was the one who started it all. Riaane was one of those natural born operators, born for undercover work. But their relationship? It wasn't undercover, but it mind as well had been. The lies, the deceit, it was like one big, fat, undercover operation. But it wasn't. And the result of their little "fling" had been Taylor.

Riaane had him never saw eye to eye on anything. First- to keep the baby. Riaane wanted an abortion. Callen wanted to keep the baby. Second- names. That had resulted in some massive blow ups. Callen was still surprised to the day that they had come up with Taylor Kaatje. Kaatje translated into English was Katie. Third- parenting styles. Callen was a pushover in Riaane's mind. Fourth- when Riaane had dropped Taylor off with her father to go work for the CIA. He had been deep undercover when that happened. Their first encounter after Riaane had pulled that "stunt" was when Taylor had been four years old.

Callen and Taylor's mom had been young. Way too young to raise a baby, at 20. And Taylor had suffered from their lack of maturity and lack of communication. Skylar had told him a couple days ago that the last time Taylor or Skylar had seen Riaane was fourteen months ago, when she showed up at Taylor's soccer game. Skylar and Riaane were also estranged, as was Riaane and Taylor's grandfather.

* * *

><p>Taylor was on the soccer field, sweating like a stuck pig. A 2 hour soccer practice, they were 93 minutes it, and Taylor literally wanted to die. Their coaches, Monica Hughes and Jim Prentice, were working the girls to exhaustion. It was hot out, and unusually humid for LA.<p>

"This is what you get when you play on a club team. You work! And run!" Jim yelled at his players.

"And kill us," Taylor muttered to her best friend, Allyson Rodriguez.

Jim was getting madder by the second and they were doing "suicide's." Suicide's were fine on a basketball or volleyball court, but on a soccer field they were just that- suicide's. And they had to do 15 of them. "Come on Vandenhoven! You can run faster than that!" Taylor was on suicide 14. "Seriously Vandenhoven! Pick up the pace!" Taylor's birth certificate may have said Taylor Kaatje Callen but she went by Taylor Vandenhoven.

After finishig 15 suicide's, Taylor collapsed on the grass. Monica hauled her up though. "Start walking. You'll get too stiff and lactic acid will build up." All Taylor was thinking about was a cold fucking shower and sitting on the couching watching TV. Playing for two different teams was running her exhausted. This was her second practice of the day.

* * *

><p>"You look different tonight," Taylor remarked, pouring over her homework, as Callen slipped inside Skylar's Santa Monica home.<p>

"Different, how?"

Taylor shrugged. "Women troubles, dad?"

"We're not having this conversation," Callen replied. He wasn't having this conversation with anybody, especially not his 17 year old daughter. "Although, we could talk about your love life. When can I meet the boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?" Taylor laughed. "You think me, Taylor Vandenhoven, would have a boyfriend? Obviously you don't know me well enough, Dad."

"I want to meet him."

"So you can intimidate him? Nope, don't think so," Taylor said. "Especially if you bring Super SEAL."

"Sam?" Callen laughed.

"Yeah. Especially him. Conversation is over, Dad. You are not meeting any of my guy friends."

"We will see about that," Callen smirked at his daughter. She just glared at him.


	7. Pushback

**Pushback**

Callen's worst nightmare was coming back to him. Okay, not his worst nightmare. His worst nightmare was Riaane Vandenhoven, but this was a close second. The fifth of May shooting. He was determined to find out who had shot him and in the end, he ended up forgetting that his daughter was suffering just as much from that shooting as he was.

It wasn't until Arkady Kolcheck mentioned something about Taylor. "Everything is useful sooner or later," Arkady Kolcheck said about the fact of him using Alina Rostoff to "warn" Callen. "Does your daughter know you speak Russian?"

"How do you know about my daughter?" Callen said. His felt a cold shiver on his spine. Normally he'd try and deny having a daughter, but he knew Arkady well enough that he couldn't lie in front of the former KGB officer.

Arkady shrugged. "I met her mother, Riaane? One time on an op. Gorgeous woman."

"What do you know about my daughter?"

"That she is an excellent soccer player and she goes to Santa Monica High. Don't worry. After the fifth of May, I made sure to check if she was still alive," Arkady replied. Callen wasn't sure if that was a good thing that he had checked up on Taylor or not.

With the syndicate deal going down, Callen was determined to keep his daughter safe. He sincerely hoped it was just Arkady who knew about Taylor. He was going to ask Hetty to keep her safe, but she had told him she already did that, with an undercover agent outside her classrooms all day.

Hetty was talking about Callen to Nate and she still had to keep her mouth shut about Taylor. She had made sure the teenager was safe. Nate was extremely worried about Callen working this case, and in return, Hetty was worried about Callen, not realizing that his daughter was suffering just as much as he was. They had managed to find Callen, what if they managed to find Taylor? Did Callen realize that his daughter was affected by this case as well? It wasn't just Callen anymore. He couldn't go lone wolf like he always did. He had Taylor to worry about, if he wanted to stay in her life again.

After the case, Nate stopped by Hetty's office. "Not such a bad day, after all?"

"It was a hard call to make," Nate admitted.

"There's someone waiting for you in the boatshed. I think you should go there." Nate knew better than to question Hetty Lange, so he did what he was told.

To his utter and complete surprise, sat a teenage girl in the boatshed. Hetty had slipped a file in his briefcase and as Nate crossed the boatshed, he had a sneaking suspicion this girl had to do with the file.

"There's no mention in your father's file of you," Nate said as Taylor was making coffee, back turned to him. She turned around and Nate didn't realize how gorgeous she looked. Nate could see the resemblence between her and Callen, that nobody else could see. The way she stood making the coffee, was the exact same as Callen. Her whole posture and the "air" she gave off, was like him too.

"I didn't think so," Taylor replied, sitting down on the couch.

Nate flipped open a file and sat beside her. "I just found out about you, the minute I walked in here."

"Yeah. My father isn't too keen on spreading the wonderful news about my existence with the whole world," Taylor shrugged. "But that's my dad."

"Were you worried about him?"

"When?"

"When he got shot? The fifth of May?" Nate asked. He also had a sneaking suspicion Callen didn't know that Nate was meeting his daughter in the boatshed right now. Hetty had sent him to go look at Alina Rostoff's house.

Taylor was silent for a minute. "I didn't know. My father wasn't exactly… involved with my life at the time. Social services came to tell me he died, but I didn't believe it. I just figured it was another cover for an op he was going on."

"Did you know your father worked for NCIS?"

She shook her head. "I knew he worked for an agency. That's all. My aunt tried to keep my mother and my father from me, the best she could."

"Why your mother?"

"Because my mother is the worst excuse of a mother you can ever get. That's why."

"What makes you say that?" Nate wasn't sure if he really did want to hear the story or not. Obviously Taylor had good reasons about not liking her mother. He had never heard Callen talk about his ex's, much less a daughter.

Taylor sighed and folded her hands on her knees. "What kind of mother leaves their three year old daughter with their grandpa and runs off with the CIA?"

"Callen?"

"On a mission he couldn't talk about, in places he couldn't say. That was my life. I have two spies for parents. Imagine a childhood, living like that. If you don't want to, well, it sucked. A lot."

Nate sighed. "Who raised you then?"

"My aunt, Skylar. My mother and her are… estranged. I was four and my aunt was 20 when I went to go live with her. She took Dad's side during the custody battle. In the end Skylar ended up getting custody. It was a really nasty custody battle, dragged out for way too long. They were using me as a pawn to get back at each other. There was a lot of hurt feelings. Skylar and I moved from Waco last year."

"Waco, Texas? What made you move to Santa Monica?"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "My aunt met a guy," another roll of the eyes. "That didn't last long. I just found out I had been living in the same city as my dad for the past year, and had no idea. None. What so ever."

"He's just trying to keep you safe, Taylor," Nate tried explaining.

"I'm a little old for that bullshit. I don't need protecting. I can do fine on my own. After all, that's been my life."

Nate was silent for a minute, studying Taylor's reactions. "Do you want a relationship with your father?"

"Sure. If he's actually serious about it, this time around."

"How many times have you seen your father since the custody battle?" Nate asked.

Taylor looked at the psychologist. "I can count them on two hands."


	8. Ambush

**Ambush**

As Callen drove to Taylor and Skylar's home that night, he kept thinking about the case. How Jay saved his ass and that phone call to his mother. Taylor would never make that phone call to Riaane, partly because Taylor wanted nothing to do with her mother and Riaane wasn't exactly easy to get a hold of.

He also kept thinking of how stupid it was to go infiltrate the militia. Hetty was right- it was a stupid idea. It wasn't just himself now. He had a daughter to protect, to love, and to be there. More of these stupid idea's, and he may end up with more bullet holes or dead. He owed it to his daughter to stay alive, for her.

Taylor was in the bathroom, putting makeup on. "You're a fucking asshole. You know that, right?"

"Language," Callen warned.

"I can call you whatever I want."

"I was at work, Taylor," Callen tried to explain. Unfortunately 17 year olds didn't always realize that their mom or dad was serving their country and making it a better place for them, especially when their dad didn't show up to a soccer game.

Taylor looked at him through the mirror. "How much is this going to happen? Just say you're going to come, and never show up."

"I don't know," he said honestly. He hoped it wasn't going to happen. "Did you win?"

She looked at him and wasn't going to answer that. Her team did lose, but it was to the best team in the valley and Los Angeles area.

"Are you going out?" Callen asked, as Taylor put mascara on.

"I think it would appear so," she retorted.

"Like that?" Skinny jeans and a tank top that revealed a lot of cleavage. Not appropriate wear for seventeen year old.

Taylor looked at Callen for the first time. "I thought it was a little better than the bikini I was going to wear. But the bikini was a little cold for a November night in California."

Callen rolled his eyes. "Where you going?"

"Football game."

"Your boyfriend's?" The one and only time Callen had met Cody James; Cody struck him as the quarterback type of guy.

"Not my boyfriend," Taylor brushed by Callen, going downstairs and he followed her into the kitchen as she took a sip from the milk jug.

"Can I see you tomorrow?" Callen asked.

"I have practice until 9. Maybe," Taylor said as she walked by him again. Callen took that as his signal to leave. He wasn't getting much more out of his daughter.

* * *

><p>Cody and Taylor were lying on the hood of his jeep, that night, after the game. Santa Monica had won, of course. They drove to a secluded spot and watched the waves crash over the rocks.<p>

"What's wrong, Tay?" Cody asked.

Taylor sighed. "Oh, just my dad."

"What did you dad do this time?" The one time Cody had met her father, he had seemed like an interesting character. He was more scared of the Super SEAL her father was with though.

She sighed again, putting her head on Cody's chest. "Said he was going to come to my game tonight. Never showed up. He did come by, while I was getting ready."

"So? He came later. What's wrong?"

Taylor sat up and looked at the boy. "Because. It's my dad. He tells me these promises and never follows through. When I was fourteen, he was supposed to come to one of my games at regionals. He didn't show up and I didn't see him for another eight months. If he's going to do that again, I don't want him in my life."

* * *

><p>Skylar Vandenhoven walked into a local bar and was surprised to see Taylor's father and another man beside him. "Callen," she said, slipping into a seat next to him.<p>

"Skylar. What are you doing here?"

"Well... Blind date didn't go so well, so I ended up here. You?"

Callen raised his eyebrows. Skylar should know why he'd be drinking on a Tuesday night. "My work and personal life don't mix."

"Ah. She flipped?'

"Yes," Callen turned to Sam. "Sorry. My partner Sam Hanna, this is my ex-sister-in-law, Skylar Vandenhoven. She's the one raising my juvenile delinquent."

Sam outstretched his hand and Skylar shook it. "You've been doing a hell of a job, Skylar."

"Not good enough," Skylar admitted. "It's hard raising a teenager, working a full time job and trying to maintain somewhat of a personal life."

Sam smiled. "Our work and being involved in our children's lives are a hard balancing act."

"One I haven't figured out yet," Callen said. "Being an agent and a father is a difficult thing."


	9. Random on Purpose

**Random on Purpose**

After rescuing Abby from The Phantom killer, Callen sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to be rescuing Taylor like this any time soon. Although, she definitely had the attitude to be getting mixed up in something not so good. And he also really hopes he never finds his daughter in a bar like Abby and Eric had been in the night before. Because that would not end pretty for anyone.

After dropping Abby off at the airport, Callen and Sam take a walk along the beach. Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone familiar. Before he would have just passed over the group of Marines that had been talking, but, his teenage daughter happened to be in that group.

He motioned for Sam to come over and his partner just rolled his eyes and followed Callen.

"So," Callen started. "Taylor. Who are these guys?"

Taylor looked at him incredulously. "Really? That's the line you're going with now? Before you would just say me- your father, you- Taylor and drag me away from talking to any guy in the vicinity," Taylor smiled and put her hands on her hips.

"What are you doing here?" Callen asked.

She shrugged. "Well I was just walking and then…"

Sam came up to them. "You know you're a trouble magnet?" He asked her. Taylor shrugs. He turns to the group of Marines, all who looked pretty young. "What are you doing in Santa Monica?"

"Sir, we just finished our duty at Camp Pendleton and we're all being deployed in a couple days and thought we'd come up here and have some fun," one of the guys explained.

Callen raised his eyebrows. "Were you going to participate in that fun, Taylor?"

Taylor just smiles slyly and Callen knows what she had been thinking. Oh this girl was going to give him a heart attack at the rate she was going. Only a couple weeks back in her life and she was running him ragged.

"Don't you have soccer practice or something?" Sam asked.

"Actually I was just inviting Jon and the others to come watch my game," she replied innocently.

Before Sam and Callen could lecture her about inviting strange guys to watch a high school soccer game, one of the Marines introduced himself. "I'm Lance Corporal Jon Peterson, this is PFC Robbie White, PFC Brendan Carthers, Corporal Cole Sadoz and Lance Corporal Rick Firth," Jon said, pointing to everyone.

"Callen," he said, shaking Jon's hand. "Her father. She's also only 17. Let's go Taylor. You're going to be late for your game," he said warningly.

Taylor smiled over at the guys. "Add me on facebook and we'll keep in contact while you're in Afghanistan."

After dragging her away, Callen began his lecture. "Why are you talking to strange guys?"

"They weren't strange and I was just being friendly. Last time I checked, being friendly wasn't against the law."

"So who were they?" Sam asked, in his "father" tone.

Taylor shrugged. "Carthers is one of my buddy's older brothers. Ryan and I would sometimes drive down to Pendleton."

Taylor had walked to the beach. She had actually been with her friend, Jessica and Jess's boyfriend, but when Taylor spotted Brendan and the rest of them and went to go talk to them, Jess had left. So Sam and Callen were giving her a ride back to Skylar's.

"So you two…. Dating?" Taylor asked from the backseat.

Callen and Sam both laughed. "We're partners at work."

"Oh right. You guys work for the government and run around killing bad guys and acting like you own the world, including me," she texted out a message to Cody. _Kill me now…._

Sam snorted. "Something like that. And for the record, your father kind of does have control over your life."

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "Really? I'd like to see him control me."

"Taylor," Callen warned. She just smiled back and shut up for the rest of the ride back to Skylar's.

As soon as Callen opened the passenger seat for her to get out, she bolted to the house. She was at the front door when she turned around. "Cody's dropping me off at the game and Skylar said she'd come, so you guys don't need to come."

"Oh we are," Sam replied and Taylor rolled her eyes.

At the soccer game, those bunch of Marines did show up to watch her play and Callen just groaned when he saw them. He also spotted Cody James and the guys she had been with before when Sam met her. Oh his daughter was definitely a boy and trouble magnet.

* * *

><p>After the game, Taylor checks her phone for any messages or missed calls. She's the last one in the locker room. The blinking red light on her phone is telling her she has a voicemail. The missed call shows it is from an "unknown" caller. Taylor pressed the voicemail button and went through the prompts to get the voicemail.<p>

"Hi, Taylor. It's your mother. Just wanted to talk. Give me a call back."

Taylor's face went immediately stark white and she pressed the delete button. How in the world did Riaane Vandenhoven get this number? And what did her mother want? When Riaane called, it wasn't just to talk. Taylor wanted to know her agenda. Actually Taylor didn't really give a shit either way, she just didn't want Riaane back in her life.

Cody James was waiting outside the locker room, leaning against the wall, and texting on his phone. He looked up when he saw Taylor. "You look like you saw a ghost. What happened?"

"Nothing," Taylor lied. She wasn't going to tell anyone about the phone call. It was better that way.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: The next chapter shows Taylor's juvenile delinquent behavoir. And this isn't the last time we see or hear from Taylor's mom.<strong>


	10. Brimstone

**_A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this one. Taylor reminds me of how I was when I was younger. I'm not sure how my mother is not completely grey by now._  
><strong>

_**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or NCIS: LA.  
><strong>_

**Brimstone**

"You did WHAT?" Callen's voice is heard across the office as Sam and him had just moved the "Christmas tree" into the office. Imagine his surprise when his phone vibrates and the secretary asks for a "Mr. Callen." He's then transferred to the principal who proceeds to tell him that his daughter was just suspended for a week for getting into a fight. Apparently Santa Monica Junior High has a zero tolerance for fighting on school property.

"I got into a fight," Taylor states, matter of factly. "Well… I don't think you can call it a fight. I took one swing at him and he went down."

"That doesn't matter. You broke the guy's nose! What part of you thinks it's okay to do this?" Callen tries to keep his voice down but he is seething mad.

Taylor's silent for a minute. "If it helps anything, he's the star pitcher of the baseball team. And a fucking jerk. He deserved it."

Callen looks at Hetty who just nods and he's on his way out the door. "We're not through with this conversation yet, Taylor. I'm coming to pick you up."

He calls Skylar while he's driving.

"Skylar Vandenhoven."

"Taylor just got into a fight. Well, I don't think you can call it a fight. She broke the guy's nose," Callen explains to Taylor's aunt.

"She got into a … fight?" Skylar repeats. "Dear God."

"And got suspended. I'm on my way to pick up our juvenile delinquent now."

"Alright. She's grounded for two weeks," Skylar says. "And I will be taking away her car keys."

Callen hangs up and tries to remain as calm as possible on his way to the high school. Since when does Taylor fight? And throw the first punch? Oh he was furious. And suspended for a week? It was the last week before Christmas break, meaning she won't be back in school until January. He had no idea what Skylar and him were going to do with a Taylor who didn't have school to attend every day. A full day to try and come up with some new way of getting into trouble.

Taylor's sitting in the office with an ice pack over her knuckles, even though it doesn't hurt that much. Cody James and Ryan Hale come over to where she's sitting. They sit beside her and she laughs at the expressions on the boys' faces.

"Did you really drop him with one punch?" Ryan asks. He looks a little nervous because he's on the same baseball team as Brian Shepard, and he doesn't want it to look like he's taking sides. But the fact that Taylor dropped Brian was hilarious. And brave.

Taylor nods. "Yup. He's a fucking moron anyways."

"Well half of the juniors are happy you finally punched the egotistical bastard and the other half want to kill you," Cody says.

"Which side are you on?" Taylor asks.

"Yours," Ryan and Cody say at the same time.

She smiles. "Good." And then looks in the direction of the front door and sees her father coming in, looking less than pleased. "Get out of here. My dad's coming." Cody and Ryan scramble to get out of the office and make it look like they weren't talking to Taylor.

The principal, Mr. LeRose comes out his office when he sees Callen approaching. "Your Taylor's father?"

"Yeah. Gregory Callen," he says, introducing himself by his "alias." Taylor rolls her eyes as Mr. LeRose shakes her dad's hand.

"So as I've explained to Taylor and you over the phone, she's suspended for a week for fighting and breaking Brian Shepard's nose. She's welcome to attend school when the school reconvenes on January 5th," Mr. LeRose leans against his secretary's desk and stares at Taylor. She stares at him back.

"Thank you, Mr. LeRose," Callen says. "I've got it from here."

Taylor's a little surprised when Callen takes her to a suspicious building. "Condemned?" She asks and Callen ignores her. If this was his idea of punishment, throwing her in a condemned building, she'd be running away and joining the circus.

This is not how he wants to introduce his daughter to his team but Skylar is working and he does not trust Taylor alone, after the stunt she pulled today, so he's left with no other option but to take her to the Mission with him.

"Taylor," Sam says as she enters the bullpen.

Callen figures now is a good time as any to introduce his daughter. "Kensi, Nate, Dom, meet my juvenile delinquent, Taylor."

"So why you here?" Sam asks.

Callen opens his mouth to speak but lets Taylor explain. "I got into a fight. And got suspended for a week."

He looks over and Sam is trying really hard not to laugh and Kensi is laughing. "You got into a fight?" Sam asks, again.

Taylor nods. "Well, I don't think you can call it a fight. He's a fucking asshole. So I punched him and broke his nose. Dropped him in the process."

Kensi laughs again and puts her arm around Taylor. "I like her already! I definitely did not know you had a daughter. "

"Don't encourage her behavior," Callen warns. "She's grounded. For two weeks."

Kensi ignores her boss. "So, let me guess? Quarterback?"

"Close. Pitcher for the baseball team," Taylor says nervously. "Half of the junior class is happy, and the other half want to kill me."

"Callen, did you know I got suspended for four days for getting into a fight? Somebody called me short and small and well hell broke loose," Kensi explains to her boss, who is sitting at his desk, looking very pissed off. He can see Kensi starting a fight, however, he can't see Taylor doing the same.

Callen glares at Kensi. "Well, explain to our little trouble maker that fighting is not a good thing."

Hetty comes into the bullpen. "Mr. Callen, I suggest you get up to Ops and Eric will brief you on what you missed. Miss Callen, I trust you will stay on that couch and not move. Mr. Getz or Dom, can you keep an eye on her?"

* * *

><p>Callen's coming up the driveway at Skylar's when he notices a red pickup truck behind Taylor's car, three days later. He's not sure what sure what to expect when he opens the door. But he can here the profanity already.<p>

"Fucking hell! This is a bunch of fucking bullshit," Taylor is yelling, quite loudly.

Callen opens the door to his daughter pouring over a textbook and Cody James laughing at her. "It's not that hard. Grade 11 math is not intended to kill you."

"It just might," Taylor mutters. "A long, slow and painful death."

"Homework?" Callen asked.

Taylor's tone changes. "Hi, dad. And yes, it's a bunch of fucking bullshit. Oh and Mrs. Donahue gave me an extra essay to write because I'll be missing class all week. Bitch."

Callen tries to not laugh. "By the way, I thought you were grounded. So what is Cody doing here?"

"He came by to give me my homework. And anyways, you said I couldn't leave the house. You didn't say anything about him coming over."

He had to give her that, but he figured it was implied when he told her she was grounded. "Well thank you Cody for bringing her homework by, but you can leave now."

Cody gets up to leave and Taylor doesn't even bother to say goodbye to him. Cody stops beside Callen. "She had a legitimate reason for punching Brian."

Callen looks his daughter's 'boyfriend' in the eye. "I'll be the judge of that."

They were on their way to Taylor's soccer practice when Callen realizes he never asked Taylor why she punched Brian Shepard. So he asks. "Why'd you do it? Why'd you punch Brian?"

Taylor doesn't even glance at him, keeps looking out the window. "I was walking by with Cody and Ryan and Brian was standing there. He hit my ass and then told me I look better on his arm than Cody's. So I turned around and decked him. Like I told you, fucking jerk. He deserved it. It's not the first time he's tried shit like that."

Callen's not sure if he should be happy and proud that she stood up for herself, mad that she lost her temper, or a little suspicious as he feels Taylor is probably lying to him about her "relationship" with Cody James. It's probably a little of all of the above.

After soccer practice, he silently hands her keys back to her car. It was a legitimate reason. He just wished he would have asked sooner on why she had punched him.

Taylor leans over the seat and kisses Callen on the cheek. "Thanks, Dad." With that, she's running up the walk. Presumably to go have a shower and then to her 'boyfriend's' house.


	11. Breach

_**A/N: So I used an online translator because my Dutch is limited to a couple swear words and phrases that may or may not be appropriate that my dad and uncle taught me. So the sentences may not be correct, because we all know how trusty an online translator is, right? Not.**_

_**And I definitely remember flunking a few chem tests in my high school days, so I can relate to Taylor. I'm having a lot of fun writing her and thanks for the reviews.**_

_**Disclaimer again- I don't own NCIS:LA. Wish I did though. We can all dream, right?**_

**Breach**

Skylar was drinking her morning coffee at the kitchen table as she heard Taylor stomp down the stairs in the morning. She winced every time she heard a thud. Taylor in a bad mood was not good. Hell, Taylor in a good mood was sometimes a bad thing.

She also winces as Taylor throws open the door to the fridge. Those appliances don't exactly take to being thrown open so…violently. "Here," Skylar says, handing Taylor a cup of coffee. Taylor takes it and sits down at the table, taking the cream and adding enough to it to make Skylar shudder.

"Bad morning?"

"Fucking Whitney. I hate the bitch," Taylor complaines as she rummaged through the fridge again, this time coming out with milk and the Corn Pops sitting beside the fridge. She fills a bowl right to the brim.

"What did Whitney do this time?" Skylar asks, not knowing if she really did want the answer to that. Whitney McGovern was Skylar's best friend and the co-coach to Taylor's high school soccer team.

"Ran us into the ground. As if Jim and Monica don't do that enough," she grumbles, in between bites of cereal.

Skylar ignores her niece's complaining. "Are you going to eat all that?"

Taylor looks up. "Yeah. Why?"

"That's an awful lot. By the way, why are you in a bad mood this morning?" Skylar takes the liberty of asking the question that may or may not get something thrown at her. Taylor mad always equaled to either holes in the wall from punches or things chucked at stationary or moving objects.

Taylor looks at Skylar. "Because. I'm fucking tired. That's why."

"Misschien moet je gaan vroeger naar bed. Gewoon een suggestie," Skylar muttered. Translated it meant: maybe you should have gone to bed early. Just a suggestion. She knew her niece had come home at 12 30 am, being out with Cody. She couldn't say anything because Taylor's curfew on school days was 12 30.

"Opsluiten." Skylar had to laugh that her niece would actually tell her to shut up.

"Have a good day at school!" Skylar calls after her, as Taylor heads out the door, as she's done her cereal, looking less and less impressed. She felt sorry for whoever had to encounter Taylor today.

* * *

><p>"Miss Vandenhoven," Mrs. Chatham stops Taylor on her way out of the chemistry room.<p>

Taylor freezes in her tracks. She's tempted to make a run for it but the wench hates her enough as it is. She hears others in her class snicker as they walk back. She takes a deep breath and turns around. "Yes?"

Mrs. Chatham hands her a test. With a big red F on it. 41%. Taylor groans. "And I expect this first thing tomorrow morning, signed by your parent."

Taylor rolls her eyes. "No can do."

Mrs. Chatham's eyebrow is arched, looking at her troubled student. "No can do?" She repeats.

"I haven't seen my dad in four days. He's kind of busy helping save the world," Taylor says.

This time its Mrs. Chatham's turn to roll her eyes. "I expect it signed. By your parent. Not your aunt."

Taylor turns and walks away from the dreaded chemistry teacher. She hated Skylar for making her take chemistry. She hated it. She was horrible at it. And she was going to fail the course. "Stomme teef. Ik kan niet geloven dat haar."

Cody comes up to her at her locker's and hears her muttering in Dutch. He knows she speaks her native language when she's pissed. And judging by the expression on Taylor's face... she was a little upset. "What did you say?"

"Stupid bitch. I can't believe her. That's what I said. Seriously? She expects it signed by my dad by tomorrow morning. That is an unreasonable request," Taylor says, running her hands through her hair and putting an emphasis on the world "that."

"You can't get it signed by Skylar?" Cody asks.

Taylor shakes her head. "She specifically said, not by Skylar."

"Forge your dad's signature."

She sighs. "Can't do that either. Have you seen it? It's illegiable and impossible to duplicate. I'm fucked."

* * *

><p>Taylor's day was getting worse, from flunking the chem test to her soccer game. Whitney was not playing her much at all, and for somebody who played the entire game most of the time and led her team in goals, she was a little upset. From this morning and Mrs. Chatham, it was just adding fuel to Taylor's fire.<p>

"Here!" She yells to Allyson, streaking down the middle of the field. Allyson crosses a perfect pass over to her, and Taylor dekes around a defender and kicks it top left side of the goalie. Goal. Maybe her day was looking up.

At the center line, she waits for the forward on the other team to kick it back and she rushes the girl. And elbows her in the process. The referee blows his whistle and Taylor rolls her eyes. Okay, so maybe it was a little dirty, but it was girls soccer. "Vandenhoven, I'm just going to give you a yellow card right now. I've watched all the little elbows all game. Don't make me give you a red card," the ref warns.

Taylor glares at him as she hears Whitney calling her over to the sidelines. "You're benched for the rest of the game. Or maybe the reason of the season until you fucking learn to keep your fucking elbows down and stop playing dirty," Whitney tells her. Taylor just chucks a water bottle the opposite direction.

* * *

><p>There was an even bigger problem later that night. She was at Cody's and had tried her dad 5 times and left him 5 voicemails to call her immediately. She already was one Mrs. Chatham's bad side, she didn't want to be on it any longer. She was tempted to just get Mr. James to sign it, but she decided to call Sam first.<p>

"Houston, we have a problem," she says when he picks up.

"Taylor..."

"My dad gave me your number in case of an emergency. This constitutes as an emergency because I fucking can't get ahold of him," Taylor says, exasperated. Okay, maybe it wasn't a huge emergency, but it was still an emergency.

Sam laughs. "Your dad is... undercover right now. I can get him to call you when he's back." He mentally decides his partner's daughter really doesn't need to know her father is undercover at a strip club with a stripper. Yeah, definitely doesn't need to know.

"Well it better be soon!" Taylor yells.

"What is this about anyways?"

"I need to get him to sign something," Taylor finally says.

"You need to get him to sign something? That's what your calling me about?" Sam asks.

Taylor sighs. "You wouldn't understand. Just fucking get him to call me back. Immediately." And she hangs up and throws her phone across the room. Sometimes she really wished her dad wasn't a fucking NCIS agent and more like a real dad. Who came home every night. Oh right. He wasn't!

Sam stares at his phone and laughs. He couldn't believe Taylor Vandenhoven had just called him. She definitely had a flair for the dramatics. He needed the laugh from deaing with Moe today.

When Callen is finished his mission, Sam remembers to tell him about Taylor's phone call. "Call your daughter back," he says. "She's a little pissed."

After calling his daughter back and finding out what this is really about, he drives to the James household, not far from the Santa Monica highschool. To his surprise, IAB Detective Andrew James opens the door up. "Agent Callen."

"Detective. Can I talk with my daughter?"

"Taylor!" Andrew yells and Taylor comes downstairs, closely followed by Cody and Marie, Cody's mother.

Taylor flips to the last page of her chem test. "Sign it please?"

"Why can't Skylar sign it?" Callen asks her, looking her in the eyes.

She shrugs. "I wasn't about to ask more questions. The bitch hates me enough as it is. So can you just sign it please?"

Callen signs it and hands it back to her. "You'll have plenty of time to study for the re-test and for future tests, because you're grounded for the next week. Nice seeing you Detective, Marie. Taylor, we'll talk," Callen warns and turns away and hears Callen groan. He chuckles. He thought he was going easy on her because he was never great at school, and he's not great at parenting either. But he's learning.

* * *

><p>Taylor marches into her second period Chemistry class with Mrs. Chatham, the next day. She thrusts the test down on the teacher's desk, surprising the evil witch. "Here. It's signed."<p>

Mrs. Chatham picks it up and flips to the back page and sees the signature. "Was it that hard?"

Taylor's hands are on her hips and she stares down the evil witch, even clad with blonde hair on the top, black on the bottom. Too modern of a hairstyle for a late 50's something teacher. And she dressed like she was trying to be a cougar and pick up one of her students. Taylor shudders at the mental thought of her teacher being a cougar. "Actually it was. My dad is a little busy helping save the world."

There is an dyed eyebrow raised by her teacher. "Oh, really?" It's drowned with sarcasm.

Callen's daughter smiles evily. "Actually, yes. I'd put him on the phone and explain the situation, but right, I don't know where he is and he doesn't return phone calls or messages. So, here's the bottom line. If you need something signed by my parent again, I'm not going to even try and hunt down my father, because he's saving the world. I'm just going to get my aunt to sign it. After all, she is still my legal guardian. Got it? Thought so," Taylor says bravely, turns around and heads back to her seat.

And if Taylor is tempting fate, she reads her cell phone because her father just sent her a text. Apparently he did learn how to find where the text message button was. _Did your teacher give you much grief?_

Taylor types out a reply. _Actually, yes. I told her it was hard to get my dear, lovely father to sign it, because he's a little busy helping save the world and proving to everybody who didn't know that he's Superman, Batman and Captain America all rolled into one. She didn't like that too much._

Callen's reply made Taylor smile. _I can't imagine why. By the way, thanks for thinking of me that I am your Superhero. Too bad most of the day's you are my Kryptonite. _

All Cody James is doing, is praying that the room isn't going to combustively light on fire from the look on Mrs. Chatham's face. And he's praying his lovely girlfriend makes it through the day without a trip to the principal's office. But asking Taylor to behave was like asking hell to freeze over.

**Thoughts? This was one of my favorite's to write.**


	12. Past Lives

**Past Lives**

Callen leaves Kristin Donnelly's house and drives around aimlessly. Before it would have bothered him a little bit, the not knowing if her son was his son also. But now… he has Taylor to worry about. And to take after.

He knows Taylor is at practice and has a game right after but he stops by the soccer field, where she was playing with the club team. Jim and Monica have whistles in their mouths and yelling drills out.

Taylor spots him coming up and tells Jim she needs to go speak with her dad. She's breathless as she runs over to him. "What's up?"

"Just came by to say I love you," Callen said.

Taylor arched a manicured eyebrow. He was a little surprised to see she wasn't wearing any makeup, a very odd rarity for someone like Taylor. "You're freaking me out, Dad."

"What's wrong with doing that?"

"You never do that," Taylor replies and looks back at the team, practicing dekes. She was the master at dekeing out players. "Are you coming to watch my game later?'

"No. Work thing. Team outing," Callen explains.

She throws him a look. Callen's daughter definitely mastered "the look." Words weren't even needed. "Really? You're missing my game for the bar?"

"Sorry. Hetty is demanding my presence," he felt kind of guilty when Taylor threw him a look like that.

She shrugs and rolls her eyes. "Have fun!" She leaves him with a kiss on the cheek and runs back to join her team.

"Good luck," Callen says about her impending game.

She turns around look enough to flash a smile and then she's not within hearing range. Callen walks back to his car. He sits in it for a second, watching Taylor deke around a girl with no effort at all. He mentally reminds himself to ask if she's checked into post-secondary education and a soccer scholarship.

When he gets back he's not sure if he should laugh when Hetty announces the team outing is a Karaoke bar. He goes along because he wants to show up Sam's pathetic impersonation of Mick Jagger.

* * *

><p>Skylar is driving Taylor back from the game. She looks utterly exhausted. "Have you seen your Dad lately?" Callen hadn't been around the house in about a week and Skylar was a little worried. Callen usually showed up every second day or so to spend time with his daughter.<p>

"He came by the field today while I was practicing. Told me loved me and then left. I guess he was going to the bar with his team tonight. He was ordered," Taylor sighs and keeps looking out the window.

Skylar doesn't reply, instead keeping her eyes focused on the road ahead. She's thinking about the "what if's." What if Riaane hadn't of taken the job with the CIA? What if Callen hadn't gone on all those op's when Taylor was still a baby? What if Skylar hadn't stepped in, at the age of 20, to raise her niece? And what if Riaane was still involved on her life?

Skylar knew the answer to the last question. Riaane Vandenhoven and Callen never got along from the start. They had met at some beach party and they were more or less fuck buddies for a month until Riaane got pregnant. They both had a lot of growing up to do before Riaane got pregnant and then they were forced to grow up way too fast with a baby on the way. Riaane couldn't handle being a mother then, and she couldn't handle it now, 17 years later.

Taylor is rolling around in her bed, unable to sleep. She's also thinking about the "what if's." What if her mother was like all the other soccer moms? Sometimes she'd kill to have a "normal" mom. Instead her replacement is her 33 year old aunt, who works full time as a dental hygienist and in no way a soccer mom. Skylar Vandenhoven should have been a model; instead she put herself through school and raised her niece at the same time. Her father is a federal agent and around half of the time and it seemed he wasn't around when she needed him the most.

She silently gets out of bed and climbs into bed with Skylar. "What's wrong, honey?" Skylar never calls Taylor "honey" or "sweetie" unless something's wrong. And something had to be wrong with Taylor for her to crawl into bed with Skylar.

"Just thinking. About what if mom was still in my life," Taylor says quietly.

Skylar stroke's her niece's hair. "I was just thinking the same thing."

"Why do you and mom not talk anymore?" Taylor asks. She's never asked the question, just assumed, that it had to do something with the nasty custody battle.

Skylar sighs. "Your mom… was reckless. After she dropped you off with Grandpa, she went undercover for eight months in Ireland. When she came back, your dad and her got into a huge fight. He had been raising you for those eight months and you were… a brat. Grandma tried the best she could, but she was getting sicker and sicker. I knew your dad had job offers from the CIA, FBI, that kind of shit. Riaane thought she could come into your life and everything would be the exact same thing."

"But it wasn't?"

She shook her head. "No. You barely recognized her and when you finally figured it out that the woman standing in front of you was your mother, you refused to be held. At four years old. I gave you milk that afternoon and it was whole milk and Riaane flipped out at Callen for not giving you 2% milk. It got heated fast and there were things chucked and thrown and getting out of hand. The neighbors called the cops and the cops came back because of a domestic dispute. They wanted to put you in their custody because they weren't sure if either of your parents were fit to raise you. I stepped in and said I'll take you. That's when the custody battle started and…."

"Messy?"

"Your grandmother was not doing well at all. The cancer spread and it was looking pretty grim. Your mom and dad used you to get back at each other. Normally custody is awarded to the mother but your dad and I proved that she basically left you. The judge awarded me full custody and gave visitation to your dad. Your mom was using drugs at the time, as well. Court found out and she didn't get any visitation. They proved she was unfit to raise you."

"And she's hated you for that ever since?" Taylor asks. She's never heard the story or was aware that Riaane had used drugs in the past.

Skylar nods. "Yes. She was absolutely furious at me for taking your dad's side. I was the one who had found the cocaine in her purse."

Taylor sighs and closes her eyes and thinks. She's not really sure if she wanted to hear that story in the end. Her mom and her dad had basically abandoned her. Soon she's drifting off to sleep and dreaming that her mom and dad were back together and they were a happy family. Even though she's dreaming, she knows the chances of that happening were zero. Riaane and Callen talking civilly to one another was as likely as pink polka dotted giraffes flying on rainbows.

* * *

><p>Kensi and Sam are both beyond wasted and making a fool of themselves. Callen's been drinking alot but not as trashed as the other two. Hetty comes up to stand beside him. "Thinking about Taylor?"<p>

"How'd you know?"

Hetty shrugs. "You get that look in your eye when you talk about her."

Callen looks at the Operation Manager. "You are too scary, Hetty."

"I'm just doing my job, Mr. Callen."

He looks at the ninja woman. "Well I was just thinking I should spend more time with her."

Hetty gives him the 'look.' "I think that would be a wise idea, Mr. Callen. She's only a teenager once and you've been absent for her life most of the time. Take most of the opportunities ahead of you."


	13. Missing

**Missing**

Taylor's in class when her ring tone of Tik Tok by Kesha went off. Mr. Durwick, her French teacher, glared at her and she quickly hit ignore and put it on vibrate. It goes off again, and she pushes ignore. By the third time, she thinks she should answer it.

"Where do you think you're going, Miss Vandenhoven? We're not finished learning the imperative tense," Mr. Durwick says. Taylor could kill herself at this point. Learning about different verb tenses in French was not her favorite thing.

"I have to answer this," she says and rushes out of the classroom and hits answer.

"Considering your ring tone is Tik Tok I thought you would have heard your phone by now!" Callen exclaims.

Taylor furrows her eyebrows and leans against some lockers and slides down until her butt reaches the floor. "You do realize I am in class and it's frowned upon to answer your phone?"

"So you're in class?"

"Where else would I be, Dad? Unfortunately school legally demands my presence, so this is where I'd be," Taylor retorts.

Callen sighs. "This is not the time for smart-ass comments, Taylor." His daughter was the queen of smart-ass remarks.

"Oh. Damn. You do realize I mind as well be a functional mute now, because I don't really have anything else in my vocabulary."

"Dom's missing. I'm worried they might come after you," Callen finally says.

She pauses for a minute. Damn. She liked the kid the one time he had been stuck babysitting her after getting kicked out. "Oh." She can't really think of anything else to say.

"Just… stay safe. I won't be at your game tonight, honey. I'm sorry."

"That's okay. Just find Dom, okay?" Taylor hangs up and sighs. If this was the life of a NCIS agent or significant other to an agent, she wanted out. This wasn't what she signed up for. Taylor did not want to be living the rest of her life, hoping nobody would come after her, because of her relationship with Callen. After all, he had made a few enemies. Enemies that would have no problems taking his only daughter.

* * *

><p>At the game, it's pouring rain. Taylor hates playing in rain. More chance to slip and twist a knee. And not to mention the club jerseys are white. Meaning a white t-shirt contest and Taylor had a pink sports bra on. She had told Cody and Ryan not to come to the game, but they insisted on coming. She knew why now. Assholes.<p>

Thankfully they're playing a team they slaughtered, 8-1, last time. Jim's saying a couple last minute comments. "Taylor, I'm keeping you off for most of the game. The second line is going to have a lot of playing time tonight. And please, for Christ's sake, nobody get injured tonight. I don't want a torn ACL." For once, Taylor's okay with not getting maximum playing time.

"You okay?" Monica asks as Taylor sits under an umbrella, on a blanket, spread out on the grass. Her and Allyson are huddled up, trying to keep warm. Taylor has athletic pants on and a windbreaker from her club team.

"Yeah, why?" Taylor drinks some water out of the water bottle, watching the girls play. Mud is flying everywhere and the field is a soupy disaster.

Monica glances at Taylor again. "Normally you'd make a big fuss out of not getting all the playing time. But you didn't say a word."

"I hate rain," was all Taylor said.

She gets enough playing time to be covered in mud head to toe. She even has mud in her hair. And with blonde hair, the mud shows quite well. Her pink bra is definitely showing as well. She hates rain in California.

Santa Monica United FC wins 7-2 with the second string playing most of the game. Taylor's just as tired as if she played a full game. Cody and Ryan come up to her to congratulate her on the two goals she assisted on.

"You might need this. I promise. It's clean," Cody says and hands her a towel. Taylor sniffs it first and smells laundry detergent so she uses it to clean the mud off her face.

She gets an evil grin on her face and hugs Cody and gives him a kiss, leaving him with a huge mud spot on the front of his t-shirt.

"I give you a towel, and this is the thanks I get?" Cody grumbles.

"You're welcome," Taylor smiles and gives him another kiss. Yeah, she was an evil child. She knew it too.

* * *

><p>Somewhere in Europe, rogue CIA agent Riaane Vandenhoven sat on a hotel bed. She sighed and wondered how it got this far. Yeah, she knew. The enticing offer made by an international arms dealer, Rick Kaplan. Kaplan had basically told her if she did all of his dirty work for him, she'd have a considerable paying job. And she could freelance on the side too. Back a long time ago, Riaane thought down on agents who decided to "freelance." Now... money was talking.<p>

She ran a search of NCIS Special Agent G Callen through British Intelligence, MI6. She had the hacking skills and she desperately wanted to know what her ex was up to. She wasn't really sure what spurred the interest on, but she did it anyways. After about 40 minutes of hacking into database after database, she got MI6's file on Callen. She looked through his personnel file and much to her relief, there was no mention of Taylor. That pleased Riaane. She knew Callen had enemies, she did too, and the last thing she wanted was one of those enemies targeting Taylor because of her parents.

Riaane searched through Callen's files and found nothing of interest to her. He was at NCIS Los Angeles, which she already knew. He had been there for about 5 years, after leaving the DEA. What Riaane wasn't so sure about was the fact that his operations manager was none other than Henrietta Lange. Riaane wasn't surprised at how much pull the older woman had, still. Riaane had met Hetty a couple times, and Riaane wasn't intimdated by many people, by Hetty Lange was one of them.

Next, she looked through what British Intelligence had on herself. Not to her surprise was the large file they had on her. Riaane Vandenhoven had been one of the CIA's best operatives. She had shut down international arms dealers, terrorists wanting to blow up the United States, drug cartels, human traffickers. One thing all agencies liked about her, was the fact that she could play hard ball. And her father was a legendary Cold War veteran, Eric Vandenhoven.

Riaane sifted through the files they kept on her. One thing made her happy. There was no mention of her daughter. Very few people knew about her. She orginally had Taylor listed as her daughter in her CIA personnel file, but after the bitter custody battle, she made the CIA change that. And thank God nobody else picked up on it. Riaane may not like her ex, or have a close relationship with Taylor, but one thing was for certain- nobody was going to get revenge against Riaane or Callen, via their daughter.


	14. LD50

**LD-50**

"Do you have any idea what I could buy with that?" Kensi exclaims when Hetty announces that the mall billed NCIS $72,000 for the Koi fish.

Callen chuckles. "I have a pretty good idea. I do have a teenage daughter."

Hetty pauses. "About that, Mr. Callen. I was just informed from the FBI that there was a small clip of you diving into the fountain that aired on KTLA."

Callen closes his eyes. "I have a feeling this could get interesting." Something is telling that his daughter, who loves to shop, may have seen that clip.

* * *

><p>He thinks had from being a NCIS agent, he can adapt to many situations and he has a lot of "faces" he can put on. Nothing prepares him for the right hook from hell that could give Sam a run for his money that he gets to the jaw when he hopes the front door.<p>

Other the other side of that powerful punch is none other than his daughter, Taylor Vandenhoven. Callen stumbles back and stares at the furious teenager standing in front of him. "What the fuck were you thinking!" Taylor yells. "You could have been killed!"

"It was either me or…," Callen tries to go on but he's interrupted by some harsh words.

"No! I'm your daughter. I'm the one who you should be looking out for! I'm not losing my mother and my father because they can't exactly make clear decisions in the fucking line of duty. I don't want to be worrying about you for three hours, and not know if you're alive. I don't know if I'm more fucking mad at you for thinking you can be Superman or the fact that you're phone got dropped in the fountain and you didn't bother to call your fucking daughter and let her know you're alright!" Taylor pauses in her tirade. "I'm done," she yells at him and slams the door in his face.

Taylor's so furious as she paces around the house, waiting for her father to leave. She sees that he's left so she grabs her keys from the island in the kitchen and drives to Cody's house. She's fuming mad. So mad and preoccupied with her thoughts she doesn't even remember the drive.

She opens the door to the James' house. She's way past the knocking stage. More at the stage of opening the door and saying "Mom, what's for dinner?" Taylor kicks her shoes off and goes into the kitchen where Andrew and Marie James are cooking dinner. Cody's little bother, Robbie, is sitting at the island.

"Your father did some impressive work today," Detective James says.

"Oh I see you've caught the clip of my father, NCIS Agent Batshit Crazy Superman!" Taylor sighs. "Yeah, impressive when he tries to get himself killed!"

Cody's watching Taylor's rant for the corner of the kitchen. "Taylor," he said and she turns around and runs into her boyfriend's arms. He looks at his parents who cast sympathetic glances towards Taylor.

"Dinner will be ready in forty minutes," Marie James says, and Cody drags Taylor up to his room. He can see she is beyond furious and he's just hoping his walls don't end up with any holes in them from punches or object thrown at them.

* * *

><p>Callen holds an icepack of his jaw the next morning, as he sits at his desk in the bull pen.<p>

"Ouch, G. What happened?" Sam asks as he arrives, side by side with Kensi.

"Never piss off a woman," Callen grimaces.

Kensi smiles and puts her bag on the desk, next to Callen. "Now that I agree with!"

"So who was it?" Sam laughs, trying to come up with a possible scenario of his best friend getting a punch to the jaw.

Callen glowers. "Taylor."

"Your daughter?" Kensi asks, a little shocked, and very curious to why Taylor would punch her father.

"My phone may have had water damage from my swim with the Koi fish and I didn't call her back. She saw the clip that aired on KTLA," Callen explains.

Sam and Kensi grimace. "I don't blame her," Kensi says. "But my father never pissed me off so I can't say what I would have done." Callen shoots her a look and Kensi wisely shuts up.

"So call her," Sam says, like it's the easiest suggestion in the world.

"I've tried. Keeps going to voicemail. And this is what it is," Callen put his phone on speaker.

"Hi, you've reached the voicemail of Taylor Vandenhoven. I'm probably in class or at soccer practice or just flat out ignoring you. And if you're my father, I'm glad you figured out how to use your fucking phone! And if you're Skylar, I promise I'm not doing anything illegal. If you're none of the above, leave a message and have a great day!"

Kensi and Sam try not to laugh as Callen hangs up, but they can't help it. That voicemail is fucking funny, no matter who you were. Callen definitely had a spitfire of a daughter.

* * *

><p>Taylor laughs at the voicemail she created as she walks into her second period, Chemistry class. Mrs. Chatham still hated Taylor's guts and Taylor didn't have a clue why. She sits in between her boyfriend and Ryan Hale.<p>

"Miss Vandenhoven, I'm going to ask you to move," Mrs. Chatham tells her, once the whole class sits down, hoping to embarass her.

Taylor raises an eyebrow. "And what would that reason be?"

"Your test results have not been good lately. I think it would be a best decision if you removed yourself from distractions."

She laughs. "Really? Last test I got, I got 88%. And last time I checked that was an A. Unless you think I am a genious, I don't think that's anything to scoff at. And Ryan and Cody have been helping me figure things out."

"Do not talk back to me, young lady!" Mrs. Chatham scolds. The teacher had been hoping Taylor would be embarrassed at her calling Taylor out, but obviously not. Her plan had backfired. "You can go sit in the office."

Taylor shrugs. "Okay." She picks up her books and smiles at Cody. She's not really bothered by it all that much.

Mr. LeRose spots Taylor coming into the office and ushers her into his office. "What are you here for, Vandenhoven? Punch another student?"

"No. I was talking back to Mrs. Chatham, apparently." Taylor uses air quotations around "talking back."

The principal just shakes his head. "Whatever. Get out of here. Go sit in the library and do your homework. I really don't want to see you back here. I think I will be making a call to your father, however."

Taylor freezes on the spot, on her way out the door. "I don't think that's necessary. And anyways, he's out of the country," she turns around and smiles smugly at the principal, thinking she's pretty smart for coming up with that one.

"Fine. A call to your aunt, then." Taylor shrugs and walks out. Skylar would probably just laugh anyways. Not a big deal.


	15. The Bank Job

**The Bank Job**

"Heirlooms, irreplaceable things that you can't put a price to," Kensi explains. She turns to Callen. "Doesn't your daughter have one of these?"

He pauses. "Uh. No, I don't think so. Her mom was never into keeping this kind of…stuff," he gestures to the box that Kensi has on her desk.

* * *

><p>Sam and Callen were on their way to Jeffcoat's place and talking about what Sam had in his Class G6 safe, hidden in his den. "That's your 'I'm hiding something' look."<p>

"No I'm not," Sam argues.

"I would know. I have a daughter that likes to keep stuff from me. Like having a boyfriend," Callen complains.

"Still haven't spoke to her?"

"Nope," Callen asks. "What else you have in that safe?"

"Tickets to the Lakers/Knicks game for tomorrow night. They're both spoken for."

* * *

><p>As Callen and Sam were in the warehouse, Callen thought back to a certain warehouse in Paris. He hated warehouses. Good traps. He hated them for their memories as well. That certain warehouse in Paris is where him and Riaane had to work together on an op for the CIA and where she double-crossed him. Yep, that was Riaane Vandenhoven, for you. Callen would never tell Taylor about that op. It still haunted him to the day and one of the bullet holes on his shoulder stood a constant reminder to that little "incident."<p>

Eric is describing Salerno. "He's the mastermind and the muscle all rolled into one felonious package."

"Sounds like your daughter in a couple years, G," Sam remarks.

Callen raises his eyebrows. "Don't even joke about that." His daughter certainly had the street smarts to become a career criminal but he hoped she inherited Skylar's smarts and stayed away from the streets, bad or good side of the law.

* * *

><p>Kensi is looking at the medal her father had, and Callen and Sam are discussing the tickets to the LakersKnicks game tonight.

Her phone rings and its an unfamiliar number, but she answers it anyways. "Hello?"

"It's Taylor. Can you teach me how to shoot a gun?"

Kensi snorts. "You want me… to teach you how to shoot a gun?"

"Yeah. So can you?"

"First of all, you're underage. You don't need to know how to fire a gun. And second, what do I tell your father. And third, why do you want to learn how?" Kensi is really wondering.

Taylor laughs. "You don't need to tell my dad anything. And it's for my own protection. My mother's kind of a bitch," Taylor explains. Kensi can kind of relate, she's not close to her mother, either.

"I'll get back to you on that," Kensi says, hangs up and runs to where Callen and Sam are just getting into Sam's car.

"Callen. Your daughter called me," Kensi says breathlessly.

Callen stops. "Is she alright?"

"She's fine. She wants me to teach her how to fire a gun? Should I be worried?"

Sam laughs. "Knowing his kid, probably. That is one thing Taylor does not need to know how to do."

Callen groans. "I'll handle this."

* * *

><p>After the LakersKnicks game, he's still trying to get ahold of Skylar. They keep playing phone tag and leaving each other voicemails. In her multiple voicemails, Skylar tells him Taylor hasn't said anything. Hell, she's rarely home, Skylar tells him. Taylor has also taken up softball. Meaning practices on Monday and Friday, games Thursday, for her high school soccer team; practices on Monday and Tuesday, games Sunday for her club soccer team; and practices Tuesday and Thursday, games Wednesday and Friday for her softball team. Just thinking about Taylor's busy schedule was enough to tire Callen out.

He's waiting for her, at 12 30 am, outside of Skylar's house. She told him that Taylor was at Cody's and he knows his daughter would be at her boyfriend's until then. He's just leaning casually against his car. He sees her headlights and the surprised look on her face.

"I'm not talking to you," Taylor announces as she gets out of her Jetta.

"You just did," Callen pointed out. He gets a glare as a response, but he follows her up the walk anyways. "You called Kensi."

The key is in the lock before Taylor turns around to face her father. "Is this what you're here about?"

"Yeah. And to talk. You're not returning my calls."

"No. I'm not," she replies.

"Why'd you call Kensi? Why do you want to know how to fire a gun? As Sam pointed out, that is one thing you don't need to learn how to do."

Taylor shrugs and leans against door frame. "Fine. Cody's place got robbed yesterday. Yeah, the IAB Detective's house got robbed. Anyways, I thought maybe I should learn how to shoot a gun, for protection. Because I am home alone a lot and God forbid a robber tries to rob this place. Or even worse, my mother comes back."

Callen smiles at her last comment. "I think a baseball bat will do just fine, honey."

Taylor unlocks the house and steps inside. "Goodnight, Dad."

Callen turns and walks down the walk, blowing out the breath he didn't think he was keeping. That conversation didn't turn out too bad, for Taylor. Maybe they were making progress.

* * *

><p>Taylor's having a freezing cold shower, thinking about the conversation she just had with her father. Okay, probably not the best idea to learn how to shoot. A person with her "anger issues," as Mrs. Chatham had described to her, didn't need to know how to use a firearm.<p>

As she washes her hair with shampoo, she's still thinking. The wanting to use the gun, wasn't for her safety's sake. She could careless about that. It was her mother that scared her. And fortunately for her, Callen realized why she wanted to learn how to shoot. Riaane Vandenhoven wasn't a topic anybody could really dance around with. It was a serious subject and she wonders when her mom's going to come back. Hopefully never, she decides as she washes the shampoo out.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Callen and Sam are going to a crime scene when they start talking about a topic that seems to come up quite often. Taylor. "So you find out why your juvenile delinquent wants to shoot a gun?" 'Juvenile Delinquent' is Sam's new name for Taylor. He rarely refers her by her first name. Just that. Or 'Spawn of Satan.'<p>

"Yeah. I guess her boyfriend's house got robbed. And she's alone a lot."

"Isn't his father that IAB Detective from LAPD?"

Callen nods. "Detective Andrew James."

"So you're daughter is dating a cop's son. Guess she could do worse?"

Again, Callen nods. "That she could. Not to mention Cody's mother did a stint on Miami-Dade PD before becoming a nurse."

"What are you thinking about?" Sam asks. "It's not about your daughter's future husband and having to visit with the LAPD inlaws. Maybe you can call up Bernhart and see what he thinks of his IAB Detective? Renko knows a few people in LAPD. Just like a family reunion."

Callen smiles and grimaces at that last statement. He doesn't want to picture Taylor married. And he's pretty sure that won't happen anytime soon. Or he sure as hell hopes not. "Nah, just something Taylor said."

"What did she say?"

"I think the real reason she wanted Kensi to teach her how to shoot was if her mom came back."

Sam casts a look at his partner. "Her mother really that bad?"

"Yeah."

"Wait. Isn't she Riaane Houghton?"

Callen shrugs. "I didn't know she got married."

"I can't believe I didn't see the resemblence until now," Sam says. "Although she had brown hair then."

"How did you get the unfortunate chance of meeting Riaane?"

Sam looks at Callen. Good thing the LA traffic is atrocious this time of morning, so Sam can drag out this conversation. "SEAL team. Serbia? Bosnia? I don't know. But she was a CIA operative."

Callen's silent, so Sam pokes the subject a little more. He's not sure if he should wake up the dog and force Callen to remember some not so great details and just get them out there, or let the sleeping dog lay. "I met Riaane for 15 minutes at the most. But, how did you two end up?" He makes a vague hand gesture, so he didn't have to elaborate on the last part.

"We were young. Met at a party. Drank a lot. It was only two or three weeks," Callen finally tells Sam after a couple minutes of silence. It's more than he told anyone. But then again, not many people knew about Taylor. He's sure Hetty somehow knows of the details, because Callen and Riaane were an unlikely couple.

"Destined to fail from the start?"

"More than you know. We were young, impuslive and stupid. And forced to raise a child, while her CIA father tried to meddle in both of our lives."

Sam nods. "You know Eric Vandenhoven is pretty legendary? Like Hetty legendary in the SEAL world?" Eric had been a Navy SEAL for 7 years, before going to the dark side and joining the CIA.

"Oh, I know. I know."


	16. Chinatown

Chinatown

"Maybe I was on a run," Callen says, trying to get Sam off his back for being "late."

"G, you only run when bad guys are shoot at us," Sam points out.

Callen looks at him. "Maybe I was visiting my daughter."

Sam looks at him. "Really? Really? For one, I remember you mentioning that your daughter absolutely hates mornings and it's earlier than 10 am, which means, I don't know anyone who would want to visit your daughter!" Sam is a little scared of Taylor Vandenhoven.

"Fine. I slept in. And you do have a point about the earlier than 10 in the morning thing," Callen replies, climbing up the stairs.

"With who?"

"No one."

"Ah, come on. There was someone. When are you going to find a good girl?"

"Sam, we've been over this. You are my partner, not my mother. Or my daughter," Callen adds.

"I just want you to find a good girl and be happy!"

Callen doesn't reply to that.

* * *

><p>"We kind of had a language barrier," Callen tells Hetty as she reprimands them for not talking their way out of being in the ice and aspirin club.<p>

"And an I want you dead barrier. Something you have experience with G? Your daughter?" Sam says, putting ice on his leg, recalling back to a couple weeks ago when G was putting ice on his jaw from getting clocked by his teenage daughter.

"Don't even," Callen warns.

Callen looks at Hetty as she puts the peroxide on Sam's leg. "I'd rather deal with my hormonal raging teenager with homicidal tendencies."

* * *

><p>Callen looks as Jane meeting her mother for the first time in a while. He wonders if Taylor will ever have that kind of meeting with Riaane. He doubts it. If they do, it will be filled with bullets and guns, because that's the way Riaane operates. And he doesn't see Taylor willingly meeting her mother anytime soon.<p>

One thing his daughter picked up from him was his tendency to be stubborn as hell and once Taylor had something in her mind, she wasn't changing it. And she had it stuck in her mind there was going to be no chance of reconciliation with Riaane.

Skylar and Taylor are eating dinner at the kitchen table when Callen comes in. He suspects fast food, and he's right. Well Taylor has a ceasar salad made beside her. She has to keep up her energy somehow.

"Hi Dad," Taylor smiles at him as he enters the kitchen. He's glad that his daughter isn't shooting him death glares anymore.

"There's another sub on the counter," Skylar says. "You have to beat Taylor to it though."

"Go ahead," Taylor says. "Cody'll take me out after the game anyways."

"So sure of that?" Callen asks from the counter, putting the extra sub on a plate and walks over to the table.

Taylor smirks. "I have that way with people."

"What time is the game?" Callen asks. It was a Tuesday and if he remembers correctly, she doesn't have a game today. But he couldn't keep track of her insanely busy schedule.

"I don't have one. Cody's baseball game."

"I wasn't aware your boyfriend played baseball and football."

Taylor doesn't even say anything about the boyfriend comment. Before she tried to deny it. "Well he does."

"So you are dating Detective James' son?" Callen asks, looking at Skylar for conformation and she nods.

His daughter looks at him and raises an eyebrow. "Nice having this conversation with you, Dad. I got to run!" Taylor put her plate on the counter and grabs her purse from beside the microwave.

"Tomorrow?" Callen asks, hoping to see her, now that they've "repaired" their relationship.

"Have a game," Taylor announces on her way out the door.

She doesn't go straight to the diamond where Cody's club team is playing. Instead, she goes to the cemetery where her grandmother is buried.

It takes her a couple minutes to find the grave. She hadn't been here in awhile. To her surprise, there are fresh flowers on it. Skylar or her grandpa must have been by. If it was the latter, hell was going to be raised, because that meant Eric Vandenhoven was in town and he didn't call Taylor.

She quickly texts Skylar. _Did you visit grandma's grave recently?_

Skylar quickly replies. _Nope_

Taylor forgets about her grandpa, instead focusing on the grave in front of her.

Anja Louisa Vandenhoven

Loving mother and grandmother

1938-2006

"I miss you so much grandma. I wish you were here. Dad's… back in my life. I know you hated him for always leaving, but he's not a bad person. Okay, he's fucked up a couple times, but I'm glad he's trying to make it work. I have a new boyfriend. His name is Cody. Can you believe I am dating a cop's son? Skylar and I are doing okay. I'm glad I'm back in Santa Monica. I liked Waco, but it was way too hick for me. I've been playing soccer a lot. I think you'd be really proud of me. I've been looking at schools to go to. I'm not sure I want to stay in California or not. I wish you were here to help me make that decision. Skylar's not much help." Taylor brushes a tear from her eye. She silently traces over her grandma's name and gets up and leaves.

It was good to "talk" to her grandmother again, but it also brought up painful memories of the past, and one of them being Eric Vandenhoven.

* * *

><p>Riaane Vandenhoven sucked in a huge breath as she walked into Los Angeles International Airport. She looked around, paranoid. First, the CIA wanted her. She was a rogue agent. Second, she was traveling on a fake passport. Third, she was in her ex's territory. Fourth, Henrietta Lange.<p>

She makes it through the security fine. She figured she would as the fake passport is good enough to stand up to scrutiny. She just hopes facial recognition software won't catch her. Riaane keeps her head down, avoiding cameras. She doesn't have any luggage so she passes baggage claim. Afterall, this is a business trip, not a personal one.

She gets a cheap hotel room and gets out the gun that Rick Kaplan's men put there for her. She adds a silencer to the pistol. Gets another cab to the Santa Monica pier. Rick's tech guy has sent Petty Officer Smithfield's GPS coordinates to her phone. Santa Monica Pier is busy, but not too busy to find the Petty Officer. She found him, took out the pistol and quickly ended his life. She then avoided the cameras as she made her way into another cab.

This was an interesting assignment Kaplan gave her. He told her that the Petty Officer was his source inside of the warehouse at Camp Pendleton. And now he was a loose end that needed to be gone. And because he was a member of the US Navy, his death fell into NCIS jurisdiction. It might fall into NCIS San Diego jurisdition, but a pro hit in Santa Monica, it might just be NCIS: LA's case. And Riaane Vandenhoven would love nothing better than for Callen to find Petty Officer Smithfield's body. To see what she was capable of, outside of CIA control.


End file.
